???️ The Blame Game

Days after Liverpool’s humiliating defeat at Wembley against Tottenham and I don’t know about other supporters but I’m still seething with rage. The game on Sunday wasn’t just embarrassing but it was completely unacceptable how Liverpool just collapsed defensively, it felt like this results had been coming for a while now, not just from this season, but as a result of having a very leaky defence for the last four or five years. So why haven’t Liverpool sort this out and who is to blame?   The fact of the matter is our centre-backs are just not good enough to play in the system that Klopp wants them to, I know Lovren got a lot of stick on Sunday and rightly so as his performance was awful but I don’t think Matip played any better, and if you look at the other centre back we had on the bench in Klavan it really does not inspire you with a great deal of confidence. The bottom line is the players aren’t good enough, so how did we end up in a situation where we have average centre-backs who are leaking goals left right and centre and where do we go from here? It’s interesting to think that when Klopp came in almost two years ago our four centre-backs were Martin Skrtel, Mamadou Sakho, Ko??o Toure and Lovren, out of all four Lovren was the weakest and I still think that he is, and while the others have been let go Lovren is still there. Last year Matip was brought in but that hasn’t quite worked so in the summer Liverpool’s main priority was to get a centre-back in that was of the quality that we needed, obviously we know who that centre-back was meant to be but with Southampton failing to budge the question every Liverpool fan is asking now is was there not a Plan B and if not why? I understand that Klopp wants a particular type of centre back and obviously Van Dijk was his number one target as the player seemed to tick all the boxes but surely he isn’t the only defender in the world that can play in Klopp’s system and this is a major issue that could cost us for the rest of the season. I don’t know who is to blame for Liverpool not signing a centre-back in the summer, I don’t know if it’s Klopp, Michael Edwards or Peter Moore, or even all three, and to be quite honest after watching the game on Sunday I’m at the point where I don’t really care I just want the issue resolved. One of the things that frustrates me at the minutes is knowing that if Manchester United Manchester City or Chelsea were in the position we were in the summer they would’ve got the Van  Dijk deal done by hook or by crook. Whatever it would’ve taken they would’ve got it done and this is where Liverpool have let themselves down big time. I know that Southampton were threatening to report us to the Premier League for allegedly tapping up Van Dijk but at the end of the day the Premier League came out and said that there was no evidence to support this, so while I am writing this article I’m sat here wondering why we were waiting for Southampton to give us the green light to go back in for Van Dijk? Surely it’s common sense that no team in the world would invite another club to bid for one of their top players it just isn’t going to happen. Liverpool needed to be more ruthless in the window and just put a bid in, whether that was £70 million or even £80 million, pay the money and just shut them up because that is what all the other “big boys” would’ve done. To be a “big boy” you have to act like a “big boy” and if we have ambitions for winning the title then we need to start thinking and acting like a “big boy” and if that means throwing our weight around in terms of money then so be it. The sad thing is we still have 9 and a half weeks till the window opens, so that is 9 and a half weeks of working with what we have which isn’t a lot defensively. The only bright spark for us from a defensive point of view is Joe Gomez who seems to be able to adapt to what Klopp wants him to do in a centre-back role and I think from now till January it might be worth giving him one of those centre-back positions in a permanent role. The other centre-back position we might as well give to one of our under 23 players because as far as I can see they can’t do any worse than Matip and Lovren, someone like Lloyd Jones or Conor Masterson should be promoted to the first team and given their opportunity on Saturday against Huddersfield. Personally I think this would be a good makeshift plan until January where if I’m quite honest I expect Liverpool to make a bid for Van Dijk the minute the window opens and not a second later. Listening to Klopp after the game on Sunday I think the penny has finally dropped for him and I think he’s realising that he can’t improve his current centre-backs any more than he has done. Liverpool need two more centre-backs, or at least one to partner Gomez who I think can become a real solid defender for us in the future. Whether we put in a bid for Van Dijk in January for another centre-back I don’t really mind as long as we get someone through the door who has the quality needed to play for Liverpool and who is able to sort out and organise our defence. We need a leader back there, someone who is going to shout and scream in order to get players in the positions that they need to be in, someone like Jamie Carragher, a captain if you like. Whoever Liverpool get in let’s hope it’s done sooner rather than later because personally I can’t bear to watch another horror show like on Sunday.   Article by Imraan Adam  @imadam786